


Perfect

by themrp123



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Adorable, Christmas, Christmas Decorating, Cute, Egobang - Freeform, Fluff, Fun, Holidays, M/M, OCD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 19:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8929807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themrp123/pseuds/themrp123
Summary: Dan and Arin decorate for the holidays.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! I am BACK and IN THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!! Ah I've been so happy lately for some reason! Senpai has noticed me, it's the fucking holiday season, I no longer have crippling depression, I'm out of my funk, I have an awesome pen pal from Seattle, I can't seem to stop strutting, and life is GOOD, people! Here's a fluffy piece that I'm actually really, really proud of. It's kinda telly, but I had a ton of fun writing it. I hope y'all like it! I love you all SO SO SO much!!! Make yourselves a cup of tea (or hot chocolate, or Green Mountain toasted marshmallow-flavored coffee), curl up under a holiday throw blanket (mine has poinsettias and birds for some reason) and turn up those Christmas carols, because... well, 'tis the season! Let's go!

“HONEY!!!!!!!”

Dan jumped, dropping the strand of tinsel he’d been carrying. “WHAT IS IT, BABY GIRL!?” he yelled.

“THE LIGHTS ARE BLINKING AGAIN!”

“Son of a bitch,” Dan hissed to himself. “I’LL BE RIGHT THERE!”

Dan hurried out of the living room and into the yard. He found Arin sitting on the ground and staring miserably at the violently blinking Christmas lights.

Dan couldn’t help but laugh. “Aw, Big Cat. Lemme see.” 

“I don’t know what I keep doing wrong.” Arin yanked his hair out of its ponytail.

Dan bent to kiss his cheek. “I’ll fix it.”

Dan climbed the ladder onto the roof, blinking against the harsh rainbow lights. “Push the plug in, would you, hon?”

Arin obediently stood and pressed the plug further into its outlet on the extension cord, causing the lights to burn steadily again.

“All fixed.” Dan climbed back down the ladder and kissed his husband on the cheek again. “Wanna come help me do the mantel?”

“Obviously!” Arin took Dan’s hand. They swung their arms, giggling as they returned to the living room.

The husbands were decorating for Christmas, even though Dan was Jewish (they’d thrown a menorah in there somewhere). They’d been decorating all day, and still weren’t even halfway done. The whole house was warmed by a fire (because who doesn’t have a fire going on every day of December) and smelled of pine from the towering Christmas tree glistening in the dining room. Christmas carols (currently Mariah Carey’s ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’) echoed throughout the entire house, causing a kind of sparkle in the air. Or maybe that was just the cold.

“You’re not  _ done _ ?” Arin gaped at the mantel. It already looked gorgeous - a garland of pine with little white lights braided throughout lay across the top of the white mantel, and gold-and-glass angels stood every few feet. There was one bulbous pillar candle in the center of the mantel, and a smaller one at either end. Above the center candle, there hung a beautiful wreath of pine and hollyberries. 

“Yeah. I still have to add a few more candles, and the poinsettias, and the nutcrackers…”

“You’re crazy.” Arin laughed and grabbed the cardboard box labeled ‘Xmas mantel decor’ from the coffee table. “Let’s go.”

Clearly, they were very serious about their Christmas decorations.

“Fuck!” Arin accidentally dropped a nutcracker, and its beautifully painted head and one arm popped off. The decapitated head glared up at Arin with an almost accusing gaze. Arin looked away, at Dan, who hadn’t lost his smile. “Dan? I fucked something up. Sorry.”

“That’s alright.” Dan picked up the dead nutcracker. “It was an accident.” He tossed the pieces back into the box and took Arin in his arms. 

Arin kissed up and down Dan’s neck, making him giggle and whisper ‘baby girl’. 

Dan reached for the box again, but Arin pulled down the shoulder of Dan’s sweater and started kissing his collarbone. Dan’s giggles turned to moans and he gave Arin a little shove. “We’re decorating!” he chastised. 

Arin smirked. “Sorry. You just look so sexy in the candlelight.”

“And sunlight. If you hadn’t noticed, it’s daytime. Save the sexy stuff for tonight, baby girl.” Dan winked and plucked a new nutcracker from the box, setting it on the mantel with care. 

Arin picked up a fake crimson poinsettia and put it next to one of the glass angels. 

“No!” Dan snatched the poinsettia and put it beside a candle instead. “It looks better over here.” He shifted the candle a few millimeters to the right and sighed. “Perfect.”

“You’re  _ crazy _ ,” Arin chuckled. He grabbed a small box of glass holly and frowned. “ _ What _ is this doing in the mantel box!?”

Dan screeched, “THAT’S FOR THE DINNER TABLE!!!!” 

Arin hurried the box into the dining room and was back in seconds.

“Mantel done yet?”

“Three more candles… there, there, and there.” Dan pointed.

“But then one of them will be an inch too close to a nutcracker,” Arin half-taunted.

Dan nodded seriously. “You’re right. Put it there instead.” He pointed to a new spot.

It took another half-hour for Dan to stop fidgeting with the decorations on the mantel and declare it finished.

* * *

 

Next stop: dining room. The table was already covered with a green-and-red plaid cloth. A centerpiece made of false pine and cranberries crowned the table, with a tall, slender candle glowing at the very center. All they had to do was set the glass holly leaves and berries around the table in places where they wouldn’t break as easily.

Arin, hands on his hips, peered up at a blank wall near the tree and frowned. “Wanna just  _ cover _ this wall in our leftover lights?”

“Oh fuck yes. Get that shit on the wall!”

Arin vanished and came back with an armful of green wires rife with white lights. He handed the lights to Dan and squatted. Dan hooked his legs over Arin’s shoulders, grabbing a tape dispenser on his way up. Held aloft by Arin, Dan started draping lights over the wall, row by row, while Arin, not even sweating under Dan’s weight, changed levels whenever asked.

Finally, the entire wall was an illuminated spectacle that made the entire room glitter and wink.

Arin set Dan gently on the ground and they high-fived. “Perfect,” they said in unison.

* * *

 

It was after dinner, maybe ten o’clock, when they finally finished decorating every nook and cranny of every room in the house… or so they thought.

Dan and Arin did a final walk-around, checking to see if they’d missed anything. Arin took Dan’s hand and smiled at him, and Dan smiled back.

“Thanks for decorating with me, baby girl.” Dan squeezed Arin’s hand.

“It was fun. Thanks for  _ letting _ me decorate.” Arin kissed the tip of Dan’s nose and they giggled.

When they reached the dining room, Dan gasped and halted sharply, scaring Arin to death. “What is it, kitten!?"

“THE STAR!” Dan shrieked, banshee-like.

“OH MY GOD!” Arin’s head snapped up to look at the top of the tree. Sure enough, it was bare. “HOW THE HELL DID WE MISS THAT!?”

Dan didn’t answer - he took off, down to the basement where they’d already put away their box of ornaments (their tree had been up since October, obviously). He came back with the light-up gold star, held securely like a child in his arms.

Arin crouched, getting Dan on his shoulders again, and stood so the skinny guy could reach the top of the tree. 

“Can’t… quite… reach…” Dan grunted. “Move a little closer, would you please?”

Arin scooted towards the tree, and before he knew it, he had slipped on a patch of pine needles and was falling. Dan screamed from above him as their precarious tower began to topple. 

Arin grabbed for the tree, but Dan yelled, “NOT THE TREE!”

So Arin redirected his fall, tumbling over backwards. Arin landed on his back, with Dan landing in a straddle on his hips. Then, Arin, on the verge of laughter, heard a crash and a shower of chimes. 

“Oh shit.” Arin turned his head to see what was once the beautiful star reduced to a puddle of glass shards and burnt-out lights on the floor, and repeated himself. “Oh shit.”

Dan stared brokenheartedly at the shattered star. He looked like he might cry, or even beat Arin up, but instead, he burst into laughter, quaking so hard he made Arin’s belly shake beneath him.

“I’m so sorry, Dan!” But now Arin was laughing too, so it didn’t sound as sincere as he wanted.

Dan collapsed on top of Arin, still laughing, and kissed him all over his face and neck. “It’s okay!” he cried between kisses and laughs.

Arin ruffled Dan’s hair with both hands. “I love you!”

“And I love you, baby.” Dan was calming down, gasping a little bit for breath. He planted a final kiss on Arin’s jaw and rolled off of him. “What do we do?”

“I was hoping you’d think of something.” 

“Well shit.” Dan spread his arms and legs and started making air angels. 

“I’m sure I could find something.” Arin pushed himself to his feet and went to the big box of miscellaneous decorations. He rummaged through its contents, looking for something - anything - to top the tree with. His fingers hit something sticky and hard, and he furrowed his brow, cringing as he pulled out a stale popcorn ball, one of those disgusting things that Santa throws from a firetruck every Christmas. Why it was in the box, Arin had no idea. The popcorn ball had a blade of grass stuck to it, along with a few stray pine needles and all manner of dust from inside the box. Arin, groaning, started towards the trash can in the kitchen, then changed direction, heading for the dining room. This might be their only option.

Arin held it up mock-triumphantly. “Perfect.”

“Ew!” Dan laughed, plucking one of the pine needles off of it and looking both disgusted and amused. “That’s nasty. Is that really the only thing you could find?”

“Well, no, I guess… We could put a wine glass up there, or a thimble…”

Dan held out his hand for the popcorn ball and stuck his pointer finger in it, creating a hole just big enough to stick it at the top of the tree. 

“You can’t be serious.” Arin gaped at Dan, who was trying to find the cleanest side of the ball. 

Dan turned to look at Arin, head tilted innocently. “Shoulders, dear?”

Arin sighed. “Fine.” He hoisted Dan onto his shoulders and let him stick the ball at the top of the tree with a flourish. 

“Perfect!” Dan shouted. 

Arin caught Dan’s waist on the way down and kissed his neck. Dan giggled, softly pushing Arin away, and they turned to assess their tree.

It was a unique tree, but a beautiful one. Every foot of it glowed with rainbow lights, reflected in the silver, gold, and red ornament balls. Candy canes hung from some branches, icicles from others. Silver ribbon spiraled up and down the entire tree. And at the top, in all its glory, sat the popcorn ball, a sort of melancholy party hat. Somehow, though, it suited the tree. It was a spirited, sassy tree, way too cool for a star. ‘Popcorn balls are in now, you didn’t know?’ And then her rainbow ass would leave those other, lesser trees in the dust.

“I fucking love it.” Dan turned to Arin, a real smile on his face. “Good choice.”

“I love it too.” Arin smiled back and took Dan’s waist in his hands. “Kiss me?”

“WAIT!” Dan scurried away from Arin to the miscellaneous box. He dug through it and emerged with a bunch of mistletoe. “We forgot this.” 

Arin laughed, heading over to Dan. Dan slipped lasciviously into Arin’s arms, holding the mistletoe above their heads. He lay the other hand on Arin’s chest and let his eyes fall shut.

Arin pressed his lips to Dan’s, and the familiar flicker of love and tingles flamed in their hearts, with a tiny touch of Christmas spirit glimmering over top like a blanket of snow. After a while Dan dropped the mistletoe because Arin had him up against the wall, both of their shirts halfway off, sloppily making out. Christmas lights dug into Dan’s back and Arin’s hair was full of pine needles, but it didn’t even matter. It didn’t even matter that their outside lights were blinking again, that the candles on the mantel had mysteriously shifted too far to the left, or that a few lights on the all-light wall had burnt out. It didn’t even matter that there was a fucking popcorn ball topping their tree. As long as they had each other, everything was okay. No, not okay. Perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, thanks, thanks! Real talk, just know that your holiday season doesn't have to be tumblr-worthy, it doesn't have to be perfect or picturesque or lavish to be amazing. Your gifts don't need to cost a thousand dollars, because in the end, your gifts are the people you love, the people you spend the holidays with. When you get old, you won't remember exactly what you unwrapped this Christmas - you'll remember who came to Christmas dinner, what they did, how much fun you had. Everyone, every single one of you - be happy, be safe, be grateful, and love each other. Even if the world is fucked up, we can still be happy. You are all beautiful and amazing and smart and unique. I love you all so, so much and I wouldn't trade you for anything. Have a wonderful holiday :)


End file.
